Yunny Pottie

Everything non-work and non-Ozzie... (Heck, I have a blog just for him)

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Funny how I saw this one coming...


I bet everyone has his own story. This is not the first time I've had these types of encounter.

The first one was when I was still in college. Chasky, Arnel, Ozzie and I were riding a jeep from Philcoa to UP when I noticed that the guy beside me was somewhat uneasy. I switched my purse to Ozzie's side. After several passengers went down the jeep, the guy beside me transferred beside Ozzie. I noticed a man at Arnel's left side was also a bit uneasy. I looked at how awkward he was positioned, he had his right arm below his backpack and his left arm over it. I knew he was up to something. Then I saw his right hand (the one under the bag) extending to Arnel's side. I immediately gestured to Chasky that there was a snatcher and said "para!" right away. I think Ozzie and Arnel saw the scared expression on my face so they also immediately got down the jeep. I sure thank God nothing happened that day. I also sure do hope nothing bad happened to the driver.

The second, and hopefully my last encounter happened just this Wednesday. Due to some circumstances, I went home from the office alone. My usual route is just walking to the Katipunan jeep terminal, riding the jeep, going down at Xavierville avenue, and walking a block towards my apartment. This has been my route eversince. Nothing bad has happened to me while commuting until this Wednesday.

At 8:30 in the evening, I was carrying my purse on my right shoulder, my laptop on my left and the Servlets and JSP headfirst book on my hands, close to my chest.

While walking from the office to the Katipunan terminal, I felt someone following me. I walked faster but I still felt him getting closer. So I stopped in a well lit light near those security guys with arnis. Yes, I am a paranoid.

I managed to get to the Katipunan jeep safely after the guy went past me. While riding the jeep, I thought to myself... "Someone will snatch my bag tonight." Other thoughts were running through my head, such as how important the contents of my bag are and how unimportant it will be to the snatcher. The only thing that the snatcher might find useful in my bag was P200 in my wallet and my cellphone.

While other some other distressing thoughts were in my head, I noticed that I was near my stop. I hailed the jeep, I got down at Xavierville Ave. and went my way. After a few steps, I saw a man on my periphery who was looking at me. When I went past him, I felt someone pulling. It took a second or so for me to realize that he wasn't pulling me, he was pulling my purse. It was the guy who was looking at me. He went from one place to another so fast.

The snatcher couldn't get my purse because I was holding a book with my two hands. There was no way for him to get it unless I let go of the book. But I couldn't let go of the book. I was holding it so tight because I was scared. I tried to run but I couldn't, he still was holding my purse. I screamed and I screamed and I was trying to pull away. No one helped. The snatcher wouldn't let go of my purse. I thought about giving it to him but I couldn't manage to let go of the book. He dragged me so hard, that I slipped to the ground. I was still pulling away so he slipped. Every second was so chaotic that only after a second or so did I realize that he punched me in the face. After a few more seconds of struggling, he gave up. He then shouted, "umuwi ka na nga!" like I owed it to him.

I stood up, went to the tire shop which was around 5 feet away. There were a bunch of people in the shop, maybe 5-7 people. I thought I might be safer there. The snatcher just stood standing, looking at me. Then he repeated, "Umuwi ka na nga!". I had no idea what to do. I just couldn't move. I looked at the people inside the shop, they were playing cards or drinking, I couldn't guess. A man inside the shop asked me what happened, I told him that the guy tried to snatch my bag. Next thing I knew, the snatcher was gone.

The guy inside the shop asked where I lived so I told him I just live a block away. He asked one of his companions (a girl) to accompany me while walking towards my building. A few steps away, another set of guys asked me if the snatcher took anything. I said "None, thank you for your concern". While walking, I was still shocked but my head was trying to clear up. During the incident, my mind was only on keeping myself safe and pulling away from the snatcher. Everything else was a blur, including the surroundings.

Only then did I realize that there were people around me, that could have helped during the incident. It was hard not to notice me screaming. It was very obvious that a snatcher was trying to steal my bag. I realized the other set of people were not concerned, they just wanted to gossip.

What the girl, who accompanied me to my apartment, said kind of shook me all the more. "Pasensya ka na, lasing kasi yun. Kanina pa yun dun eh. Ok ka na ba dito?" We were at the intersection near my apartment so I didn't have the time to ask questions. I just replied, "Ok na, Thank you po".

Did they know him? Was it because they knew him that they did not help me? I might be mistaken. Maybe they really didn't notice me, and I might have misinterpreted the girl's words.

In any case, I am grateful that they helped me get home safe after that experience. But still, I am asking myself, if ever they did see the whole incident, why did they not help? Reminds me of the experiences of my friends - on both instances, there were people around, but no one helped. Is this a fact of life?

I refuse to believe the world is like this. I still think there are good people in this world willing to help someone in trouble.

I was still trembling when I got home. I was trying to act normally since my roommate had a guest. Both of them noticed something was wrong so I told them the whole story. I felt a little better but I still asked my Ozzie to come. I felt so much better when he came and comforted me. We went to SBC to take my mind off the incident. I felt much, much better.

I am thankful that nothing really really bad happened. It was bad, but I am still ok. I am also thankful that the snatcher was stupid enough to aim for the purse and not the laptop bag. If he tried to get the laptop bag, he would have gotten away with it easily
since it was not as securely fastened to my shoulder as my purse.

A lesson to be learned: Listen to your mom. Never go home alone when it's already dark. The world is a scary, scary place. Better be careful and/or paranoid than be hurt or dead.


1 Comments:

  • At Tuesday, April 04, 2006 2:44:00 AM, Blogger carla said…

    what a terrible ordeal! grabe, nakaka-inis naman yung mga nasa paligid mo. bihira na talaga ang mga matinong tao sa atin ngayon. im really glad na nothing really really really worse happened *hugs*

     

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